Proposed tax measures to escalate tobacco use: Experts

The proposed national budget for FY24, if adopted, will once again render tobacco products cheaper than essential commodities, experts say.

Addressing a post-budget press conference on tobacco price and tax measures in Dhaka on Monday, economists and anti-tobacco leaders added that the measures will raise tobacco-related illness and death.

This would also deprive the government of the opportunity to earn additional revenue and only benefit tobacco companies.

Research and advocacy organisation PROGGA (Knowledge for Progress) and Anti-tobacco Media Alliance (ATMA) jointly organised the event held at the Tofazzal Hossain Manik Mia Auditorium of the National Press Club, read a press release.

Speakers have raised the demand for introducing specific supplementary duty (SD) to effectively raise the prices of tobacco products in the final budget.

At the press conference, PROGGA and ATMA informed that the increase in prices of 10 sticks of cigarettes ranges from 1.8 per cent to 12.5 per cent. However, according to the government reports, the year-on-year increase in the prices of loose wheat flour (atta), broiler chicken, sugar, eggs, powder milk, and red lentil ranges from 14.5 per cent to 71.7 per cent.

As a result, tobacco products will become much cheaper compared to other essential commodities, which will encourage people to get hooked on smoking, and thus threatening public health.

The proposed budget has not raised the prices of bidi. This is the fourth consecutive time the budget has kept the retail price of bidi unchanged and the seventh consecutive time not to raise the SD imposed on bidi.

The prices of per gram jarda and gul have been raised by 50 paisa and 30 paisa respectively and the SDs have been kept unchanged.

It was also informed during the press conference that the proposed budget raised retail prices of tobacco products without increasing the SD imposed on those products. This will only increase the profits of tobacco companies but deprive the government of the opportunity to earn additional revenue, read the release.